Client's violence toward social workers

Abstract

The aim of this study is to characterize clients’ violence toward social workers in terms of its frequency and type, as well as to identify the organizational measures used to reduce and manage work-related violence.

Data collection involved 3 Portuguese organizations within two different stages, which included the use of interviews and questionnaires directed to social workers (n = 108) and their managers (n = 27).

The results indicate that at least half of the participants were victims of clients’ violence and verbal aggression, which is the most common type of violence. The results also revealed a set of measures of primary, secondary and tertiary interventions that are being used by the organizations involved in this study.